continuo

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun a bass part written out in full and accompanied by numbers to indicate the chords to be played

From Spanish continuo, ellipsis of hombre continuo (“constant and steadfast man”), from Latin continuus (“constant, continuous”).

VARIANTS: =Repentinamente; de improviso.= [7] =de continuo,= always. — The Spanish American Reader, Ernesto Nelson
Upon which consideration it comes into my head, that nature does not in this swerve from her general polity; for physicians hold, that the birth, nourishment, and increase of every thing is the dissolution and corruption of another: “Nam quodcumque suis mutatum finibus exit, Continuo hoc mors est illius, quod fuit ante.” [“For, whatever from its own confines passes changed, this is at once the death of that which before it was.”--Lucretius, ii. — Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete, Michel de Montaigne

figured bass, basso continuo, thorough bass

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